John Kay

Invented the flying shuttle in 1733, his invention greatly accelerated the weaving process. His invention greatly increased production, and also changed the need of two laborers for the hand loom, to only one needed for the flying shuttle.

The Spinning Jenny

James Hargreaves

Invented the spinning jenny in 1768. His new invention allowed spinners to produce yarn in greater quantities. His spinning jenny allowed the Textile Industry to be more efficient and productive.

The Loom

Edmund Cartwright

Invented the loom in 1787. The loom was powered by water, and allowed for the cloth to catch up with the spinning of yarn. It proved to be very efficient, and it organized the laborers collectively in factories next to rivers.

The Steam Engine

James Watt

A Scottish engineer that built an engine powered by steam. The engine could pump water from mines three times as quickly as previous engines. His invention allowed for more coal to be extracted from the mines. Watt also developed a rotary engine that could turn a shaft and thus drive machinery.

Iron Puddling

Henry Cort

Henry Cort developed a system called puddling, which helped the iron industry boom. Puddling was used to burn away any impurities in pig iron (crude iron) and produce better and higher quality iron.

The Steam Locomotive

Richard Trevithick

Richard Trevithick Developed the first steam-powered locomotive on an industrial rail line. Even though it had a top speed of 5 miles per hour, it was still an extremely effective machine. His invention was so important, because it ledto better and more advanced locomotives being produced soon after.

George Stephenson

The Rocket

George Stephenson invented the Rocket, which was used on the first public railway line. Rocket sped along at 16 miles per hour, a speed ahead of its time.

Iron

The first industrial change after 1870 was the change from steel to iron. New ways to shape and produce steel made it more useful in construction of lighter, smaller and faster machines and engines as well as railways, ships and armaments. Great Britain, France, Germany, and Belgium produced 125,000 tons of steel in 1860.

Electricity

Electricity brought forth a new form of energy that could easily be turned into other types such as heat, light and motion. It moved effortlessly through space by means of transmitting wires. The first commercially practical generators of electrical current were invented around 1870. By the year 1910 hydro electric power stations and coal fired steam generating plants allowed homes and factories neighborhoods to use one power source.

The Telephone

The light-bulb, invented by the American Thomas Edison and the Briton Joseph Swan, permitted homes and cities to be lit up by electric lights. By the 1880s, electricity-powered streetcars and subways had been built in major European cities. Electricity also effected the factory. Conveyor belts, cranes, machines, and machine tools could all be powered by electricity and used anywhere. Due to electricity, all countries could now enter the industrial age, not just major world powers. A revolution in communications began when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. Another major event was when Guglielmo Marconi sent the first radio waves across the Atlantic in 1901.

The Model T invented by Henry Ford

The development of the internal combustion engine, which was powered by oil and gasoline, brought forth a new source of power in transportation and gave rise to ocean liners, planes and cars . Henry Ford revolutionized the automotive industry with the mass production of the Model T. Ford's factories were producing 735,000 cars a year by 1916. In 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first flight in a fixed wing airplane. The first normal passenger air service was established in 1919